Society of tolerance that says all truth is equal, there's multiple paths to God, because everybody says something different, therefore no one can know. You know what that is? It's a lie!
That's not true! And it does not excuse your soul from answering the question that's in front of you here today. Who is this man? We welcome you to the Truth Pulpit with Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio.
I'm Bill Wright, and Don is continuing a message titled, Who is this man? Part of a series of four portraits of Christ as painted, if you will, by each of the gospels. Last time, Don began Mark's account of our Lord, and we saw that Christ commands spirits, cancels sin, and calms seas.
Today, we'll pick up with that third miraculous ability and explore yet another. But before we begin, Don, let me just ask you whether there are any prerequisites as we come to the Word of God, not only today, but every day. Well, friend, I would want you to be like the Bereans who heard the teaching of the apostle Paul, but still opened the scriptures and examined them daily to see what he was saying was so. And you need to do that with not only my teaching, but any Bible teaching you here. You need to open the scriptures and read them for yourselves and see if what the speaker is saying to you conforms with what God has made plain in his Word. So open your Bible as you listen to the Truth Pulpit today. Follow along and find what God has in store for you from his Word. Thanks, Don.
So friends, with that in mind, let's go to today's lesson from the Truth Pulpit. Who is this man? He commands spirits. He cancels sin.
You know what else he does? This man, whoever he may be, this man calms the sea. This man calms the sea. Look at Mark chapter 4 verse 35, on that day when evening came, he said to them, let us go over to the other side. And leaving the crowd, they took him along with them in the boat, just as he was, and other boats were with him. And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. I'm getting seasick just kind of reading this right now.
Get the picture there in verse 37. This is a storm beyond human power to respond to. It's not just a wind. It's a fierce gale. It's not just that there were rolling waves. It's that the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was filling with water.
This is a desperate situation of a severe storm on the sea. Verse 38, Jesus himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion, and they woke him and said to him, teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? And he got up, and he rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, hush, be still. And the wind died down, and it became perfectly calm. I would often think about this passage when I stood on the beach of the ocean when we lived in California, waves rolling in as they do, sometimes big, sometimes small, contemplating. I don't think I ever actually did it, but contemplating how foolish it would be for me to look at those rolling waves and say stop. Okay, you guys, just knock it off.
Because those waves are just going to continue to come. I don't have authority over nature like that. I would have made an utter fool of myself to speak such words. Let alone, let alone to speak them when people's lives are in danger in the middle of the sea on a boat that is about to sink. Jesus, by contrast, with utter self-control, with perfect knowledge of what was about to happen, with no doubt in his mind that there would be complete obedience from nature, said, to natural elements, to a roaring sea, said, that's enough, stop, be still. And the result was instant calm, from crashing waves to placid glass, instantly at the voice of a man.
Who is this man? Verse 40, Jesus said to them, why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith? Watch their response here in verse 41. The question is a literary intended device, not merely an isolated quotation.
Read this question in connection with the others that have come before and the ones that will come after. They became very much afraid and said to one another, who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey him? This is incalculable. We have never seen anything like this.
We've not seen this kind of authority. And beloved, understand something really important here. They had been frightened by the sea because they thought it was about to physically kill them. Their fear in the presence of Christ after he calmed the sea was even greater. Because it's one thing to be threatened by natural forces, all of a sudden they realize that they are in the presence of a completely different realm.
Who is this? The presence of omnipotence frightened them. And the fact that omnipotence was held in the hand of a man transcended any prior experience that they could possibly have had.
And so what could you do? What else could you say to one another? He raises his hand and the sea stops. And you look at one another, you look at the men that you've worked with on the sea over the years, and you say, what's this? What is this? Have you ever seen?
No, I've never seen anything like this. This is something totally other. This is something totally different.
This is outside my realm of experience. With this man, it doesn't stop there. He commands spirits. He cancels sin.
He calms the sea. But more, he comprehends secrets. He comprehends secrets.
He knows the inner workings of the human heart. Look at Mark 5, verse 21. This will be a more extended reading here. But I love the pure joy and simplicity of simply letting Scripture speak for itself. Mark 5, verse 21. As you read this passage, let's just introduce it with this little statement. Jesus is so great that he can discriminate between human touch based on the motivation of the one who touched him. Look at verse 21.
When Jesus had crossed over again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him and so he stayed by the seashore. One of the synagogue officials named Jairus came up and on seeing him fell at his feet and implored him earnestly saying, My little daughter is at the point of death. Please come and lay your hands on her so that she will get well and live. God bless you parents that are dealing with that right now with a daughter that you are concerned about. May Christ heal your daughter just like he did Jairus' daughter.
May the fear and the uncertainty that you feel, may you take that to Christ and may he give you the same kind of blessing that he gave to Jairus here today, what we read about today. Jairus is at the point of desperation. His daughter is at the point of death. And he appeals to Christ because he has nowhere else to turn. Jesus went off with him, verse 24, and a large crowd was following him and pressing in on him.
Okay, so you get the picture. Jesus is being pressed upon by a large crowd. It's like you're at a big stadium event and everybody's pressing toward the gate and it's just wall to wall, shoulder to shoulder people. Jesus is being touched repeatedly in all kinds of different incidental contact as he walks through this crowd, bumping up against shoulders. Now watch this in verse 25.
A woman who had had a hemorrhage for 12 years and had endured much at the hands of many physicians and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all but rather had grown worse after hearing about Jesus. She came up in the crowd behind him. Notice, it's behind him. It's outside the realm of his physical vision. It's outside his peripheral vision.
It's behind him. She came up in the crowd behind him and touched his cloak. For she thought... see, here's her inner thought. She thought, if I just touch his garments, I will get well. There was this tender strand of hopeful, optimistic faith. He said, I don't have to speak to him.
He doesn't need to see me. If I could just touch the threads that are connected with him, that will be enough for me to be healed. And so she did it. Verse 29, immediately the flow of her blood was dried up and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. Twelve years of suffering was over in a moment because she had touched the cloak of Jesus from behind.
Now, watch what happens here. Verse 30, immediately Jesus, perceiving in himself that the power proceeding from him had gone forth, turned around in the crowd and said, Who touched my garments? Verse 31, his disciples said to him, You see the crowd pressing in on you and you say, Who touched me?
Come on, you're in a mob. Everybody's touching you. Why are you asking such a question like that? What does it even matter? All kinds of people are touching you.
Why would you ask this question? He asked the question to demonstrate the fact that not only does he have realm power over the spiritual realm, not only does he have power over the area of sin, not only does he have power over the natural realm, he has power over the mental realm as well. Verse 32, he looked around to see the woman who had done this. He wasn't asking for information that he didn't already have when he said, Who touched me? He knew to turn directly to the woman who had done it, even though she was outside the realm of his vision. He knew her touch by the reason for which she touched him. And so he looked around and looked right at the woman who had done it. Verse 33, notice the fear and trembling again. We've seen this before. Who is this?
Who is this? When Christ puts his true power on display, the real response is fear and trembling. Verse 33, this woman, God bless her tender heart, fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. You get the impression that she thought she was in trouble, that she had done something bad, and that she was about to be rebuked. And so with fear and trembling, she comes and falls down and tells him the whole truth. And Jesus, in his great, merciful, loving, sympathetic heart, looks at her in verse 34 and says, Daughter, your faith has made you well.
Go in peace and be healed of your affliction. Who is this? Who is it that when someone touches his garments with faith, they're healed of something that human physicians couldn't treat them for? Who is it? Who is this man who understands the realm of the human heart, who knows the thoughts of men, and can identify them without any difficulty or prompting? Who is this man?
He's unlike any other man. And as you keep reading the Gospel of Mark, he starts to press this question home in a different way. Look at chapter 6, verse 14. You start to see that who is this is the theme of this Gospel. You see, Mark wrote this Gospel to reveal Christ to you. And chapter 6, verse 14, the question that you're supposed to be asking is, Who is this? Not getting caught up in every little curiosity that your mind might run to.
Don't miss the big point here. Someone amazing is in front of us in this Gospel. Verse 14, King Herod heard of it for his name, meaning the name of Christ, the name of Jesus. His name had become well known, and people were saying... See, they're trying to figure out who he is.
Who is this? Well, some people were saying, John the Baptist has risen from the dead, and that's why these miraculous powers are at work in him. Others were saying, He's Elijah. Others were saying, He's a prophet, like one of the prophets of old. Now, they didn't get it. They weren't seeing that he was the Son of God, as Mark said at the very beginning.
But beloved, what I want you to see in the whole context of the Gospel is this. At least they were asking the right question. At least they understood that something of profound significance was in front of them that demanded an answer and an explanation. They were wrong in their answer, but at least they were asking the right question and attributing miraculous powers to whatever Christ was doing. Who is this man?
I don't know. I think he might be one of the prophets of old. The point is, at that stage of the narrative, is that the question is brought back in front of you again as the reader of the Gospel of Mark.
The question is brought back, Who is this? Well, Mark builds to a crescendo toward the middle of his Gospel, and he lets the disciples give the answer. Mark 8, verse 27. At least from a human perspective, the disciples give the answer. Mark 8, 27. Who is this man?
Mark is built up to this point in his narrative. So now, being confronted by all of this supernatural aspect of the authority of Christ's teaching, his authority over demons, his authority over sin, his authority over nature, his authority over the realm of human thought, it's obvious that we're dealing with somebody unique, right? This is no imposter. This is not a charlatan.
This is the real deal right in front of us. And so, Mark 8, verse 27. Jesus went out, along with his disciples, to the villages of Caesarea Philippi, and on the way he questioned his disciples, saying to them, Who do people say that I am? You see?
This is written all through the Gospel, isn't it? Who is this? Who is this?
Who is this? Now Jesus makes the point, and Jesus presses it upon his disciples in this passage, and he sets a context that says, Who do people say that I am? Let's talk about my identity. Verse 28, they told him, saying, John the Baptist, others say Elijah, but others one of the prophets. They're responding, and they're saying, Jesus, there's a conflict of opinion about you. There doesn't seem to be a consensus. There's differing opinions. Some men say A, some men say B, some men say C. And so, as you continue on, Jesus said, Well, therefore it's obvious that no one could ever know, and it doesn't really matter. Is that what it says? Do you realize the context of what the disciples were saying, how that applies directly to you today in a pluralistic society of tolerance that says all truth is equal, there's multiple paths to God, because everybody says something different, therefore no one can know. You know what that is? It's a lie.
It's not true. And it does not excuse your soul from answering the question that's in front of you here today. Who is this man? Because Jesus goes on. And then look at verse 29. Jesus continued by questioning them, but who do you say that I am? You see, the fact that a lot of people are confused and lying in the world around you doesn't excuse you from coming to the correct answer. You have to answer for your own soul. You have to answer for yourself. And you don't get to blow it off by saying, Well, everybody else is confused. Doesn't matter.
That's absolutely irrelevant. What do you say about this man? Who do you say that he is? You have to answer for yourself. You have to answer for yourself now, today. You have to answer in this life while there is time. And I'll say it again. The people who create the confusion, the architects of our postmodern world, are not going to stand beside you at judgment and help you when you are face-to-face with your judge.
You don't want to rely on them because they're not going to be anywhere to be found. It's just going to be you and a holy God. And at that moment, you had better have gotten the answer to this question right. And you had better have dealt with this question earnestly and sincerely and not play a game of saying, Well, I prayed a prayer 30 years ago, and my life never changed, but everything's cool with me and God.
What? You mean to tell me that you claim that you met the living Son of God 30 years ago and you kept living the same way and it made no difference in your life whatsoever? You mean to tell me that you met the one who were amazed at the teaching of this man, who trembled in his presence, who were afraid when they saw him display his power?
You mean that you could meet and come into personal relationship with the man who has authority over nature, over demons, over human thought, and it didn't make any difference in the way that you lived? That's nonsense! You're not a Christian at all! What is with this idea that we could play that kind of superficial game with the living Son of God?
That's foolishness. That is a trivialization of the majesty of the glory of the Son of God to reduce it to something like that. To say, I know him, but it doesn't change the way that I live. I know him, but his word is not important to me. I know him and I'm going to heaven, but I live any way that I please. You better repent, is all I've got to say to those of you that feel that way about the truth of the gospel. You better repent and really humble yourself and come to Christ in true, humble, saving faith because that charade that you're playing with life, with the gospel, with the Son of God, that charade will be called to account. And it's an act of mercy that God's giving you one more opportunity.
Put all of that aside. Verse 29, go back to Mark 8, 29. He continued by questioning them, but who do you say that I am? My disciples, he says, you're personally responsible.
You have to make your own judgment. In verse 29, Peter answered and said to him, you are the Christ. You are the anointed one of God. You are the Son of God. There is no one else like you.
You are no ordinary man. You are the Messiah. You are the one promised long ago.
You are the King of Creation. In verse 30, Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about Him. They weren't ready yet to go out with that message.
They needed time to learn and to understand more. What I want you to see as we look at the gospel of Mark is, is that that's the whole point. Who is this Christ? Who is this man who does all of these things?
Start to answer it by saying, this is no ordinary man at all. He's the very Son of God. This is God in human flesh in front of me. This is God in human flesh of whom I read.
He has authority over all of these realms, and therefore He must have authority over me. And woe on my sin-stricken soul. I have not bowed the knee to Him. Woe on my sin-stricken soul.
I've treated Him lightly. The weight of these questions should press upon your heart. As you've been reminded today, it does not matter what other people say about Jesus Christ. Who do you say He is? And that answer must only come from Scripture. He is the rock of our salvation.
All other sources are sinking sand. Pastor Don Green will conclude his lesson in Mark called Who Is This Man next time here on The Truth Pulpit. But right now Don's here with another word of encouragement for you. My brother or sister in Christ, thank you so much for listening and supporting The Truth Pulpit. I just want to encourage you to read and study the Bible for yourself. Scripture says that God blesses the man who delights in the law of the Lord. Don't you want that blessing?
I know I do. If you're looking for answers for your soul, look to the Bible. That is where God makes Himself known. And friend, we hope you'll also visit us at thetruthpulpit.com, where you can hear today's program again at your convenience. You'll also find Don's Facebook link. That's thetruthpulpit.com. I'm Bill Wright, inviting you back next time when Don Green presents more from The Truth Pulpit.
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